What, wings? No biggy!
by S. Summers
Summary: The flock meets a girl about Nudges age, but when a new threat gets a hold of her, neither the flocks or her lives will ever be tha same again.  The first chapter is a little boring, but just keep reading, it gets better.Rated M.i do not own max ride!
1. Chapter 1:Sara

**Chapter 1**

We were definitely lost. Which was shocking due to our "super sense of direction". But we were in a small CA beach town…and it had a Boardwalk Amusement Park…here comes Nudge with her-

"Can we please go to the Boardwalk? Pleeease?" Ah, there it is.

"Nudge, we are looost! We don't have time for amusement parks!" I always have to be the bad guy!

"But this one is historical! I've read about this place-"

"You know where we are? Tell us!" I interrupted.

"Santa Cruz, CA, home of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, which has the Giant Dipper, the sixth oldest roller coaster in the U.S.! Its definitely a MUST!" Nudge, Nudge, Nudge!

"Nudge, we don't have time to be TOURISTS! We have to get back on track!" I said.

"We don't have a track, though, Max." Fang said quietly. "I say we give the Boardwalk a chance." Oh boy, Fang, you're gonna start a revolution someday.

"Fine!" I lost altitude fast as we flew over the Boardwalk; we decided to land somewhere no one would see (Obviously! Duh!).

* * *

"Lets go on the 'Giant Dipper'!" Gazzy yelled as he jumped up and down.

"Ummm" I looked up at the coaster, oh my gosh…it was HUGE! And I am just talking about the line! "Sure, Gazzy lets all go on the 'Giant Dipper'" I said as I hesitantly headed for the dreaded 'line', dun dun duuun! Once we were in line, we figured out how long it was gonna be.

"This is sooo scary! I have never gone on this ride…and I hate roller coasters!" A girl that looked not that much older than Nudge told her friend.

"Chill, Sara! Its reeally fun! Its like you're flying!" Her friend told her reassuringly.

"Might I butt in," Oh no…Angel! "but I have been on a roller coaster, and its NOT like flying."

"Ariel!" Time to break in the fake names! "You know what mom and dad told you! Don't talk to strangers!" I could not believe her! This was not like her!

"Sorry Jessica" Angel knew I hated the name Jessica!

"Oh its really alright! She is soo cute! And she deserves some rock candy and salt water toffee?" The girl that was afraid of coasters said hypnotizedishly (new word!). I elbowed Angel; I knew she was controlling her mind.

"Oh! That was weird! I was about to buy her a bunch of candy! Haha…ha" She snapped out of it…luckily.

"I am Jessica, this is Ariel, Monique, John, Alex, Nick, and…Buddy." I said. Total never liked the stereotype dog name 'Buddy', haha for him.

"Wow! I have a dog named Buddy, too! He was already named when we got him." Sara, the girl afraid of coasters said.

"So, are you afraid of heights or something?" Gazzy or 'John' asked.

"Or something…" Sara said

"Ga-John-don't be rude!" I said. Oh no! Here comes Iggy with his-

"Ya Gajohn! Not cool!" Must he do that really?

"Oh no! We're next, Taylor!" Sara was frrreakin' out!

"Its really okay! You'll be fine…if you don't get sick." Her friend Taylor said as they got into their cart. I showed the lady my bracelet pass to get in and she let me by. I got in a cart with Angel behind Sara and Taylor.

"Hello, welcome to the Giant Dipper, please keep your hands and feet inside your cart, and enjoy the ride!" A voice said on a loudspeaker. Then I felt the ride come to life beneath me, Sara quivered and squealed a little, I really felt sorry for her. We started ticking up to the part where we all go 'AAAAHHHHH' very slowly. Everyone put their hands in the air, ready for the dip. We were almost at the top when Sara turned around and said,"Sorry in advance if I puke on YOU!" She said 'YOU!' as we turned the peak and started plummeting down, and ooohh boy were her eyes HUGE!

* * *

We got off the ride and found each other.

"AWESOME! Again again again!" Gazzy yelled.

"Excuse me? Hey, umm I kinda lost my friend…could I hang with you 'till I find her?" Sara popped up next to Nudge; they really looked like they were close ages.

"Sure!" Nudge said, I could tell she just wanted a girl her age to talk to.

"Great! Thanks!" She said as she kinda hooked in to the group.

"Soo, where next?" Sara asked me. She got that I was the leader. There was something about her…not bad…but I could tell we were gonna see her a lot…


	2. Chapter 2: HER?

**Chapter 2**

As we strolled across the Boardwalk with Sara, I scanned for Erasers, Flyboys, M-geeks, and such. Sara and Nudge got along well, and we all kinda liked her, she was sarcastic like me, she talked a lot like Nudge, she came from a family of psychics (that was remotely like Angel), she agreed with Fangs "black goes with everything" theory (although she was dressed pretty colorfully), she also was the only person in her family that could cook (Iggy), she enjoyed playing with fire like Gazzy, and she wanted to see the world just as much as Total, she was like all of us mixed together!

"Who wants to go on the Cave Train? That's my favorite! I really don't know why?" Sara pointed to a ride with a little train about to go into a mysterious cave, and out of the little fake volcano at the top came a little fake dinosaur, hmm…it looks like something where you wouldn't know why you liked it.

"Lets try it!" Angel pulled on my arm.

"Sure, but it looks a wittle scawy!" I said jokingly as we stepped toward the line of shockingly ALL ages.

* * *

"That actually was a little fun! Even though it was meant for six year old kids with sight!" Iggy said as we got out of the wee little train.

"Ya, it really has that effect on you." Sara patted his shoulder, she never even asked if he was blind and she…well…just knew. I guess being psychic ran in the family!

"I have to go to the bathroom!" Angel said, crossing her knees.

"Me, too!" Nudge said.

"I _also_ must use the facilities." Sara said.

"Well what are we waiting for!" I said as Angel dragged me toward the bathroom.

I expected it to be crowded, but there were only two stalls in use. So yippy.

"K', guys, do your thing, I can wait." I told them.

"But we can't wait, Maximum Ride." Said a voice from inside one of the stalls. Two women in similar outfits stepped out of their stalls.

"Give us the girl, and no one gets hurt." The two of them pulled out guns and pointed them at us.

"Which girl?" I asked. "Cause we're ALL girls in here." Obviously!

"That one!" She pointed the gun directly at Sara, which was weird. Why would they want HER? Sara's face went white, seriously, all her freckles, like, disappeared! The women grabbed her shoulder length, brown, wavy hair.

"You pretend to be my daughter or I shoot, kay'? Honey." She put the gun up to her stomach, "And don't think that I wont just cause we are in public! I have something called money and a lawyer, I can practically do anything!" Sara nodded and started walking toward the exit with the women, while the other women kept pointing the gun at Angel, if we made one move, she would get it, and I wasn't gonna risk that. I wonder if Sara was involved in the Mafia…or something. But the women knew my name…what was going on!

* * *

"Did Sara find her mom or something? We saw her leave the bathroom with some women. She looked freaked out." Fang asked when we finally got out of the bathroom.

"Fang, Sara is messed up with some bad people, that women kidnapped her and had a gun to her." I told him.

"Maybe she is like…in a gang." Fang said back doubtedly

"No…that women knew my name…from Maximum all the way to Ride. I think she had connections with the School or Itex or…something bad. And I have no clue why they didn't want me or Nudge or Angel…they took the normal one." I said completely confused.

"Exactly, of course they wanted the normal one." Fang said to me, pretending to make a breakthrough.

"Fang, we don't have time for jokes! We might have a new threat!" I hit his shoulder.

"No really! Of course they wanted her! They are going to do tests and experiment! The next time we see her, she might be a mermaid!" Fang grabbed my shoulders and shook me. I knew what he meant, this girl was no longer just an acquaintance…she was going to be one of us! A mutant freak!


	3. Chapter 3: The JRF

**Chapter 3**

"What do we do? She might become an Eraser! She might become like Ari! What if they totally mess her up! I hope she gets away! Ahhhh! What do we do?" Eventually Fang covered Nudges mouth…thank goodness. Sara had just been kidnapped by _who knows who_ and they are gonna do _who knows what_ to her. The only thing we knew was they knew who I was, so they probably were mad scientists in search for the perfect guinea pig, and they just found her.

"The only choice we have right now is to sit tight." I told everyone.

"No! She is gonna be one of us soon! We simply can't 'sit tight'! Max, we have to do something! She could become a threat, friend, or if It's too late…dead. We don't want this to happen anymore!" Nudge was almost in tears.

"Nudge, I think this is about something else, what's wrong?" Fang asked as he patted her back.

"No matter what we do, they just keep coming back! If it's another corporation or M-geeks, or even-" She started bawling in Fangs arms. I knew how she felt, I got so frustrated when no matter what the School always finds us, even if it's not the School. Nudge just wanted to be free from dog crates, and the smell of a science lab.

"Nudge that is over-"

"No its not! That girl was just kidnapped by the same people we have known since birth! Messed up, creepy, ruthless, heartless, horrible people! We had absolutely no control! Our real parents had no control! _She_ had no control! Imagine how many other kids there are that are like us…that are still in captivity. Think about New York! There were at least thirty kids there! There could have been more! This will go on forever! Whether it's underground or in a cave! _This_ is inescapable!" Nudge was a mess, it took a whole ton to make us cry, so seeing her like this almost made me cry myself. She probably had bottled this up until now. Her nose was running, her eyes were teary, her shirt was wet from tears, and she had no tissues. I didn't know what to say or do…she had just poured out practically the story of her life.

"Nudge, we _can_ stop this, we are the flock! Have they _ever_ stopped us? I didn't think so!"I grabbed both her knees and knocked them together gently as I spoke.

"Max, we have to get Sara, she is one of us now…whether we like it or not. She probably knows everything by now. Max, we don't even have anything to do! We have to! This is a MUST." Nudge stared directly into my eyes, I felt like she was looking into my soul…I felt a bit…naked.

"Have it your way, Nudge. C'mon guys up and away! We are headed to the nearest place with Wi-Fi! Up and Away!" I headed toward where we landed and shot into the sky, I knew by the time we finally found Sara, it would be too late, and she would already be a mutant freak.

We found a small café downtown and sat on the computers, I typed in 'Itex', 'The Institution', and even 'The School' until I found something quite interesting:

Judewin Research Facility: The Judewin Research Facility is a branch of the Institution and has many connections with Dr.R. Ter Borcht. The JRF is not open to the public and cannot be found on any maps although it is located in Central California. Please do not search any more for the JRF.

Hmmm….interesting…I am shocked that they mentioned the Institution and _Dr._ R. Ter Borcht. I was pretty sure this was our place….

"What's this Max?" Gazzy popped up behind me and checked out the link. "Click on it!" He clicked it _himself:_

ACCESS DENIED ACCESS DENIED ACCESS DENIED

"Dammit!" Fang and everyone else had crowded around me and Gazzy.

"That's our place!" Angel whispered on my ear. Then, I started seeing maps and addresses flashing through my mind, pictures of windowless buildings and test tubes and needles and…people…very sad sad people. People with monkey tails, cat ears, pig noses, and… in cages, dog crates, and even…shelves…people knocked out on huge shelves labeled with numbers and codes. Then I saw another map…with a blue line going from Santa Cruz to San Jose, it zoomed in and showed little icons that looked like trees…so a forest I guess…then the red line stopped and it zoomed in on a spot…in the Santa Cruz Mountains?

_That's right Max, go to the Santa Cruz Mountains, comb it through until you find The JRF, you'll know when you find it, and you may find more than just Sara._

_Thanks, Jeb._


	4. Chapter 4: The mountains

**Chapter 4**

"Max? Max!" I finally broke out of the trance to see Nudge yelling in my face, "Max! You've been sitting there looking at the barista blankly for a minute, what's up?" She was still waving her hands in front of my face when I grabbed them.

"Guys, we have got to split. Head for the Santa Cruz Mountains, that's where we'll find the JRF." I turned around (still holding Nudges hands, so she was in an awkward position on my lap.) "Well? Up and Away!" I let go of Nudges hands and strut past the barista, through the door, and into the nearby alley way. I waited for everyone else to catch up before taking off.

"I really hate it when she all of a sudden comes to a conclusion after one of her little stare-aways. I always end up not knowing what the heck to do!" I heard Gazzy whisper under his breath to Iggy.

"I heard that." I said blankly as I shot into the night sky. We took only about twenty minutes to find the Santa Cruz Mountains, so we had extra time to search, I liked searching at night because we could see as well as we could at day, only normal people couldn't.

"So, Max…what now?" Angel asked as she tugged on my shirt. I really did not know what to do _now_…I mean we found the mountains…and they were pretty big…so to find a secret illegal facility…well all I had to say was "hmm…" But I knew they would all look to Fang after that, so I decided on, "That BIG tree is our safe spot for if you get hurt or something, spread out. When you find it, think really hard and Angel will pick up a signal and send a visual to us all. Go."

* * *

"Any luck?" I asked everyone after Angel told us we should finish tomorrow and meet at the BIG tree and we ALL agreed.

"I found nothing." Nudge said sadly.

"Nada." Iggy said.

"I almost got lost. Oh! And nothing." Gazzy said.

"I was listening for thoughts when I got something quite interesting. It was a thought about 'the latest experimental mess up'" Nudge jumped a little after Angel said "mess up". "I am pretty sure that's our spot." Angel pointed North toward a little spot where the mountain dipped in and the trees were very dense.

_That's your spot, Max. Right there in the middle. Go there._

_Thanks, Jeb._

_Oh this isn't Jeb, this is the actual Voice. I know _way_ more than him._

"Good work, Angel. We'll head there first thing in the morning." I said as I patted her curly blonde hair and dosed off to sleep.

* * *

"Max, wake up! It's almost dawn. Let's go find the JRF." Fang shook my shoulders.

"Okay! Okay! Just stop shaking my shoulders!" I almost pushed him out of the tree. "Thatta way, ladies."

"Hey!" Iggy and Gazzy yelled. Fang didn't care. We finally got to the dip in the mountains when Angel stopped flying and just hovered there…she heard something.

"What is it, Ange?" I asked as I patted her back.

"It's another thought, I can send it around." Then we all heard a voice:

_This latest subject has been very cooperative, I am so glad her procedure went well. Too bad she ended up so invincible. We have to keep her in a steal room. John is so scared of her; she left at least three dents in her compartment!_

"I really hope he is talking about Sara." Nudge patted my shoulder.

"Shh!"

_This girl really has a chance at being our first successful-_

All of a sudden Angel started losing altitude-fast.

"Angel!" I shot down to catch her, I bet she was listening for Sara's thoughts and was overloaded by other ones while sending out that specific thought to us all. I almost caught her when her eyes shot open, she gasped. Then she furled out her wings and just hovered.

"Angel? What happened?" I asked.

"You'll see…" She said before shooting back to the flock.


	5. Chapter 5: Holy S  t!

**Chapter 5**

We got closer to the middle of the dip when we saw what looked like a jail; no windows, watch towers, and barbed wire. I think that's our spot.

"Move in. Avoid watch towers and guards." I patted the back of Iggies hand, "Thirty degrees south, at three o'clock." Then I shot down towards a spot without anything dangerous…not much of that. Once we were all there I was about to make a plan when a loud siren went off and the guard in all the watch towers pointed their guns around, not knowing where the threat was.

"They caught us, Max!" Fang and the rest of the flock were getting ready to take off when I saw a figure burst out of the _front doors_, I mean, the security here must really suck. I looked closer and I saw Sara.

"It's Sara! She is escaping!" The flock all turned around and gaped. A group of guards shot at her but she dodged every single one, I heard everyone sigh with relief. The guards then surrounded her, she was screwed.

All of a sudden she transformed into a lioness and roared at the guards. The entire flock gasped except Angel. She could shape-shift! Sara hurled herself at them and the guards all scattered everywhere. Sara transformed back into herself and believed or not, she popped out some chocolate brown wings and took off.

"Go go go go! Catch up with her!" Nudge yelled, we all took off and caught up with her.

"Sara!" I yelled. She turned around and gasped.

"Am I on something? Or did they get you, too?" She flew over to us and stared at us.

"They got us a while ago…a long time before you met us." I told her. "What the heck did they do to you!"

"I don't know…they called me 'the setter'…I don't know why. But they were all scared of me, I didn't know why until one time I thought 'I wonder how cool it would be to have a monkey tail' and boom! There it was! I could turn into anyone or anything." She wasn't happy…I knew why, she knew she would be hunted for_ever_. "Anyway, since when did you have wings?"

"Since, I don't know, forever!" Gazzy answered as he twirled up towards the sun, show off.

"I am heading home, my parents are probably freaking out, bye!" Sara started to fly toward town.

"Sara stop! It's too dangerous!" Fang yelled. "If you go home, they will find you and they could hurt the people you love, if you don't go home they won't bother your family."

"Sara, you will see your parents again, trust me, I know these things. But for now you should stick with us, for the _safety_ of your family and yourself." Angel told her. Sara thought and thought until she came to a conclusion.

"Fine. I'll stick with you guys. But first I need to know some stuff. What are your real names? I knew from the start your names were fake." Well, we learned today that our cover was blown from the start.

"Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy or 'The Gasman', Angel, and Total. That's it." I said as I pointed to everyone as I said their names. Sara was shocked by our names and yes, I have to admit they are a little odd.

"Well then. What now?" Iggy asked.

"I vote Sara turns into people and does funny imitations!" Gazzy said ecstatically.

"Sounds good to me, but we should get like a hotel room or something before the JRF geeks find us." Sara quivered a little when I said JRF.

* * *

When we found a nice hotel, We all went up to the front counter with puppy dog faces.

"Two rooms connected please?" I asked as I handed over some moolah.

"How many nights?" The un-uniformed lady asked, maybe this hotel wasn't sooooper nice.

"One or twoish." I answered.

"Hmmm…about ninety nine per night." The lady wasn't very serious about her job. I passed her all the money we had…about one hundred fifty dollars, I wasn't very good at math, but I knew that would not cover two nights.

"I'll make you a deal honey, if you can find me something worth fifty bucks, which is what you still need to pay, I'll let you stay. Kay, honey?" I liked this deal.

"I got something!" Sara pulled out some old jewelry from her pocket, "I stole this from one of the JRF ladies." She whispered to us.

"Hmm…that atta do." The lady snatched it from Sara's hands and replaced it with a key card. "Have a nice day!" She smiled a smile a bit too big and then went back to admiring her new jewelry.

"I call sleeping with Iggy!" Gazzy shouted.

"I wanna sleep with Max!" Angel tugged on my arm.

"I can sleep on the floor" Fang said.

"I'll sleep with Nudge then, I guess." Sara said.

"You don't wanna do that, Nudge is a black belt in sleep karate." I told her.

"Kay then so there are four beds, and seven of us plus Total, but he doesn't take up much room, three beds are taken…so that works out!" Sara would just have to sleep in the boys room.

_Max, don't let Sara out of your sight, the JRF see's her as a huge threat, make sure you never leave her alone, or you may affect not only her but the entire world._

_Why must you always rain on my parade with these cheesy cliff hangers?_


	6. Chapter 6: A small detour

**Chapter 6**

"Were there any other kids at the JRF?" Nudge asked Sara. We had left the hotel and we were headed for my mom's place. Sara was exited to meet her and Ella.

"Yeah…they were mostly mess ups, I mean, they could talk and all, but most of them weren't as successful as I was. Some of them were like part cat part fish, it wasn't pretty." Sara shivered a little.

"Wow, so like what else can you do now?" Gazzy asked, I think he wanted an answer like 'oh I can like blow things up and stuff'.

"I can grow things like these wings, a monkey tail, bunny ears-"

"But what about when you turned into a lioness?" Nudge interrupted.

"Oh…I really can't do it on command, only if it's an emergency." Sara said to everyone.

"Awwe…I wanted you to imitate like Perez Hilton or something! Ooo…maybe Megan Fox!" Iggy was so creepy sometimes.

"Maybe the next time we are in a battle to the death, I'll give that a thought." Sara patted him on the back.

"Score!" Iggy shouted. We were just about to cross the border from California to Nevada when we saw something going on beneath us, we were flying well out of human sight, but we had raptor vision…so ya.

There was a minivan on the side of the road, it looked as if some other people were outside it. When I looked closer, the people outside it had guns. This did not look good.

"Guys, get closer to that minivan, see what's happening." We lowered ourselves closer.

"Max? Can I send out the thoughts.." Angel asked, she sounded a little freaked out.

"Yeah, honey."

_Good good. Looks like a family with money, kill the dad, sell the kids, get that momma and-_

"Okaaay, guys. Move in!" We swooped in fast. Fang popped up behind one of the muggers and tapped him on the shoulder, the man turned around a Fang punched him in the face. I looked at the tires of the minivan, they were all popped, I then looked at the road, it was covered in nails all facing up. It was obvious the muggers had done it.

All of a sudden I felt a strong arm around my neck and a gun to my head.

"Hey, George! I got us anadda little lady!" The man said in a heavy Jersey accent.

"Yeah, you've got yourself quite a few little ladies." I heard Nudge say in her 'don't you mess with _me_' tone. The man turned around with me in his grasp to see Nudge, Sara, and Angel all giving him the death glare.

"Awwe, how cute! Hey why don't ya-unh!" Nudge kneed him in his manly spot. He then leaned over and Sara whacked the back of his head with a heavy crowbar (where did she get that?), then Angel made him say 'unicorns fly on cupcakes' for no reason, then he was knocked out. Oh and did I mention, this all happened while his arm was around my neck, so that was awkward. The other man turned around.

"Heyo, whadga do to Frank?"he asked angrily, then a huge jaguar (Sara) came up behind him. We all pretended to look scared and pointed toward Sara; the man turned around and immediately passed out. Sara stepped over him and morphed back into herself. The family in the car hesitantly opened their doors.

"Who are you?" The mother asked. She was looking mostly at Sara. But her son was giving me a weird look.

"We are none of your concern." Nudge crossed her arms and did the head thing that I could never do as she said that.

"I think you are, honey. Where are your parents?" That woman liked to push things.

"Ma'am, leave us alone, please. We are on our way to somewhere important." Sara said patiently.

"Bob? Call Child Protective Services. Tell them we have a few runaways. Call 911, too." The women had a Texan accent and very big hair, she was wearing knee high shorts with a sweatshirt tied around her waist and a camera around her neck. Typical tourist outfit.

"Miss, no matter what you do, CPS can't stop us." Fang popped up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. She jumped a little. I looked over at her son again, boy was he creeping me out, was that drool on his chin?

"Teresa! I got CPS on the phone, they called the police themselves, they are looking for parents with missing kids. The police will be here in five." Bob, her fat, similarly dressed husband yelled from inside the car.

"Up and away, now!" I shouted. We all took off running as a starter and unfurled our wings; we could hear the families' gasps from twenty feet away.

We were still in visual distance when we turned around to see the fuzz get there early. I had _such_ good instinct.


	7. Chapter 7: Mom's place

**Chapter 7**

I was pretty sure we were close to my mom's place, oh wait I mean _really _close, after Angel heard the thoughts _I miss Max and the flock so much, I wonder if Nudge has been using that hair product .Oh no! Where did Ella get that kind of makeup?_ I mean, there aren't very many women with daughters named Max with wings that lives with a flock including a girl named Nudge that has hair issues. Plus another _girly_ daughter named Ella. Or maybe there are, who knows.

I recognized the spot where I first saw Ella when some guys were about to beat her up (but I kicked their butts before they hurt her). We were close. Very close.

"Hey Max?" Angel asked, "I am really tired, can we get there soon?" Angel looked up at me and rubbed her eyes, it really made me melt.

"We will be there very soon Angel, just hang tight for now, okay sweetie?" I pulled her in close and looked around, it was really late, and we had been flying for _hours_. All the houses were dark except one radiating a warm glow, and as we flew right over it I heard pop music and I smelled the smell of freshly baked cookies, and my mom's voice, and-wait!

"We're here! Angel! We're here!" I swooped down and landed on the roof, I jumped off it and ran to the front door and knocked on it ferociously, "Mom! Mom! It's me, Max! And the flock! And some other people! But that doesn-" My mom opened the door quickly and practically attacked me with hugs as I heard Ella screaming my name in the background.

"Max! Oh my gosh! I missed you so much! I was just thinking about you-Nudge, have you been using your product?" She hugged us all until she got to Sara, "Who are you? A new friend?" She held her shoulders and got a good look at her. "Oh, just come in! Who wants hot cocoa and cookies? Angel, you look tired, do you want me to get the guest room ready for you?" Angel nodded and slowly walked in before she collapsed on the couch.

"Mom, this is Sara, she was kidnapped and experimented on and now she can—Sara, do your thing por favor." I gestured toward Sara, mom gasped as she flipped out wings, bunny ears, a monkey tail, _and_ a pig nose.

"Hey, Nudge, could you throw a knife at me? I wanna show my _other_ talent." Nudge looked at her like 'are you crazy or something' but then she went all 'oh, I remember!' and threw a butcher knife at her, all of a sudden, Sara transformed into a wolf and caught it in her mouth.

"Wait! You said you couldn't do that on command!" Gazzy pointed at the chocolate brown wolf. Sara morphed back into herself again.

"I said I only could do it in _emergencies_. A butcher knife being hurtled at your skull is an emergency _I believe._" Sara said as she plopped down on the couch. Mom was just staring at her in disbelief.

"Wow, that's amazing." She said as she finally stopped standing there and headed for the kitchen.

"I am not as amazing as Angel here though; I mean _she_ is like…wow! Ya know?" Sara patted Angels sleepy back.

"Oh, that reminds me. Angel, honey? I'll go get the guest room ready for you now." She came and petted Angels head as Angel said, "Ya…mumble okay mumble".

"You kids help yourself to cookies, I will warm up some hot cocoa when I get back." Mom said as she walked down the hallway to one of her _many_ guest rooms. We all rushed over to the cookie platter and went into cookie barbarian mode, stuffing our faces, slapping other hands that go for your cookie, growling at people that ask you to pass one, fighting ferociously for the very last crumb of chocolate chip goodness. As you may have noticed, we love my mom's cookies.

"Seven _new_ guest rooms, mom? Hmm…what a coincidence!" I looked at my mom with my 'really mom?' face.

"Oh, yeah, I thought it would be nice for you all to have a bed of your own to sleep in, and there are six _new_ rooms, the other one was already there." She looked a little embarrassed. "I am too much of a mother to you guys." Everybody else was asleep except for Sara, Ella, Mom, and I.

"Its okay, but you must have spent a lot of moolah!"I jokingly punched her arm gently.

"Oh, no! Ella has a friend with a dad in construction, and I got a discount, and we always have guests over anyway, it's no big deal!" Mom said as she cleaned the dishes. "So, Sara, tell me about yourself." Mom turned around and leaned on the sink in that motherly kind of way.

"Well, I come from Santa Cruz, CA…and one day I was kidnapped from the bathroom with a gun to my neck-"

"It *cough* was *cough* your *cough* stomach *cough*" I corrected/interrupted in my not so subtle kind of way.

"Well *cough* neck *cough* sounds *cough* a lot *cough* better *cough*" Sara coughed back (She was waay subtler than me). "Anywaay, I was taken to the JRF in a windowless van and thrown in a dog crate. Then they strapped me to a operation table and knocked out. After that they took me to a concrete and steel room with _nothing_ in it, everyone was afraid of me after that. One day, I finally busted out, I mean they had the worst security ever there, I practically strolled out the front door-no interruptions there, Max—and grew out some wings and flew away, then the flock caught up with me and here I am. Ta daa!" She posed with jazz hands and some bunny ears (yes, real bunny ears).

"So how did you fly so well on your first try? It took us weeks to just hover off the ground!" I had no clue how she could just be airborne all of a sudden.

"Well, to tell the truth, I've always had wings in my dreams, so I just thought about then and…boom, I am actually literally _flying_! It was like a dream come true! A bloody, messy, dirty, kinda creepy dream come true. I mean, this is the funnest time I have had since…ever." Wow, she must have a sad life, I mean…we aren't _fun, _right?

"Sara, do you miss your old life at all?" Ella asked.

"Of course! I miss my family, my very few friends, and my…that's really it. The kids at my school are jerks and so is everyone else." Awe normal life must suck! Bullys and snobs around every corner! But I have to give it to her; I have been to school before…it really does suck. "I never want to go back, but I know I can't run away from my problems, they will always find you." Hey, that's a good pointer for Jeb!

"So what are you saying? Are you going to leave?" I asked.

"Some time I will have to go home, create some sob story, and go back to my old life." She said as she took a sip of ice water.

"But what about the JRF?" I asked with my 'what are you thinking' tone.

"I think you guys have got a handle on that. And plus, even if they tried to get me back, I would know what to do, like I said, they probably don't even let their kidnapper peoples have bullets in their guns." She started to laugh hysterically, "For safety precautions." She said with a lisp, making fun of them.

"Sara, when do you plan on going home?" I asked so I would know when we should head west.

"When I feel the need, I will tell you. But don't worry, I won't be leaving for a while." Phew. She had really become an ally and friend to us, in fact, she was almost considered one of the flock.

"I bet your parents miss you, and your friends." Ella said.

"My parents probably do, but my friends…I don't know about them." She didn't look at any of us when she said that, I think she felt bad. "I really only have one good friend that I can actually talk to and trust, but she is moving far away soon anyway. Most of the kids at my school are probably ecstatic that I am gone." She must have been, like, shunned or something.

"What about that girl with you at the boardwalk? Is she the one leaving?" I asked. Boy…have any of you counted the times I have asked her something?

"No, she is just one of my…uh… 'Back pocket' friends…as my mom would say." She laughed a little. "Well, I should really get to bed now. G'night" She yawned and stretched her arms as she walked off to one of the many guest rooms.

"I guess it's time for all of us to go to sleep, Max, let me show you your room, Ella, brush your teeth!" Mom and I walked down the now very long hall to the second to last room, I opened the door and looked around, it was very simple and nothing standing out. Just the way I like it. I crashed on the bed and immediately passed out.


	8. Chapter 8: A big detour

**Chapter 8**

The next day, I had to bid adieu to my mom and half sister, there was a little too much hugging and kissing and crying for my liking, but it was my family, so I was okay.

I was thinking about taking out the JRF, but I thought we should stay away from the west coast for a while, so I decided on going back to New York, because we needed somewhere populated and busy to figure out what to do next, Gazzy could definitely pick-pocket a credit card for us, and Nudge could figure out how to get the money…or Iggy…they both were good with computers and numbers and stuff. Or…never mind, I get the powers mixed up sometimes

"Omg! I am so excited to see New York again! We should watch a Broadway show! And go to the Empire State Building! Or the Statue of Liberty-Max! We should go shopping! I need some new shoes! And some other stuff! And then we can get a hot dog and eat it at Central Park! I love hot dogs! They taste so good! I prefer them with mustard. I wonder where mustard comes from. Maybe the mustard fairies make it. But fairies don't exist. Neither does Santa Claus. I mean how can one man fly around the world in one night? Not even we can, or Southwest Airlines. Did you hear about the lady that got kicked off a Southwest flight because her baby was crying too much? I mean what if she was going to see her sick dad and she needed to be there as soon as she could! I saw a movie like that once, this ladies grandpa had cancer and she had to see him and she goes through all this trouble to get there, and when she finally gets there her grandpa dies. I was all 'awwwe'. I was also all 'awwe' when we saw that puppy the last time we were in New York. Omg! I am so excited to see New York again! We should watch a Broadway show-" Fang slapped his hand over Nudges mouth, she squiggled and wiggled and bit and kicked and punched and munched (did I just rhyme?), but Fang overpowered her until she finally gave in and stopped. Fang very slowly let go of her, she didn't say a thing…it was a miracle.

"Well I have never been to New York before, so I am pretty excited." Sara told us.

"What! Omg guys! We have to do all the stuff I said! She has to see them!" I think that was the shortest thing Nudge has ever said. I'm serious; this is a big breakthrough for us.

"Guys, we aren't going there to be tourists. We have to figure out what to do next. I mean, our agenda is completely empty!" Nudges smile slowly turned into a frown as I said that. I guess she just wanted new shoes that much. "Well…maybe we can spend one day as tourists…maybe…" Nudges face (not so) slowly turned into a cheek to cheek grin as I said _that_ though.

"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" Nudge practically attacked me with hugs.

"Get off. And who do you think you are? One of those plastic bags at the drug stores?" I pried her off me cause she was making us lose altitude. When I looked ahead, I saw bright lights and lots of movement and business and I smelled the smell of rats and hot dogs. We were in New York. It had taken us about a week to get there. We swooped in on top of a roof and surveyed our surroundings, I looked at the bright sign on the rooftop with us and saw that we were on top of a five star hotel. Hmm…if only we had a six year old girl that could force the receptionist to give one of their nicest rooms for free with their minds…oh wait, we do!

Wow. This was a nice room. It was as nice as a really nice apartment. We had a terrace and a bigger than usual hotel kitchens kitchen. Plus three bedrooms with two twin beds each. Hmm..someone would have to sleep on the pullout mattress in the couch. But even that was like…Tempurpedic status. I guess Fang will volunteer. Angel called dibs on sharing a room with Nudge, so I shared a room with Sara (even though I had my eyes on sharing with Fang), and the pyros shared a room together. The bedrooms were pretty small, I mean this hotel room—wait—I meant hotel _3 bed/1 bath_ was still in a hotel.

"Wow."Nudge stopped in her tracks. _That _was the shortest thing Nudge had ever said, forget what I said before.

"Should I make something or should we call for room service? I'm tired so we are calling room service." Iggy answered his own question as Fang picked up the phone and dialed, "Hello, can we have one of everything?...yes, I am aware of the price…..yes we've got that taken care of" he looked at Angel, "….I am indeed above eighteen…..sir…we are very-….yes….no….what?...sir please bring us the food…..no way!...of course not!...sir, that's a little perverted….I understand that…..sir…...I am so sorry about your wife, bring us the food now please….well you should tell your sister that…..sir-…sir-…that must have been a horrible birthday party….food please, now." He hung up the phone promptly and looked at us. "Wow, that man has problems, I got us one of everything." Fang didn't seem the least bit disturbed.

"What was he talking about, Fang?" I asked.

"Oh, he had a hard childhood and his marriage is falling apart" Fang said a little_ too_ casually.

"What about the perverted part?" Iggy asked.

"Oh, I will tell you later. It makes me laugh a little." He chuckled a small bit, it must have been pretty funny to make Fang laugh. We all sat down for a while and talked until we heard the ding dong of the doorbell.

"I'll get it." Sara said as she walked toward the door cautiously. Even though she had not been with us for a long, she knew never to open the door without checking. She checked through th e peephole. "It's Mr. Vent out all his problems to a stranger." She opened the door to find a kick in the face and a food cart shoved into her. We all stood up in fighting stance, Sara was practically under the cart, she shoved it off her transformed body, she was a gigantic hippo (don't laugh), she charged at the room service man with her mouth wide open, but before she got to him he pulled out a gun and pointed it at her, she stopped and transformed back into herself. She had a (very) bloody nose, a black eye, and blood dripping down the side of her face.

"If you move I shoot." The man said, Sara put her hands in the air. The man stepped back into the coffee table and fell over. Then we heard the piercing sound of a gunshot and Sara scream bloody murder.


	9. Chapter 9: Choices

**Chapter 9**

_**Previously: "If you move I shoot." The man said, Sara put her hands in the air. The man stepped back into the coffee table and fell over. Then we heard the piercing sound of a gunshot and Sara scream bloody murder.**_

"Sara!" Nudge screamed, she had a little squeak of fear in her voice. She rushed over to her as Fang and I took care of the shooter.

"Who the hell are you!" He was on the ground, still holding the gun.

"What do you want from us!" Fang kicked his stomach, the man winced.

"I am just an employee, a man paid me to tranquilize you." The man was sobbing, he was telling the truth.

"So she was just tranqed, right?" Fang said, relieved.

"….no…." the man covered his face as he said that. I looked over at Sara, she was bleeding all over the (probably) expensive rug, Nudge and the others were tending to her.

"What do you mean 'no'!" I hit his head with the back of my hand.

"The man told me if I had to use it, I could, I never intended on using it!" He tried to get up, but Fang and I pinned him down.

"Max! We have to get her to a hospital now!" Nudge was pressing a cloth on the wound and her hands were still covered in blood. I couldn't even tell what color the cloth was, but it was red right now. Fang and I tied the man to one of the columns and called 911 before heading to the hospital, even though the man was just an employee, he shot someone, and he needed to pay.

"She is in critical conditions, she lost an extreme amount of blood, we are about to give her a blood transfusion. May I ask how she got _shot_?" I looked at Fang and he looked at me and we looked at the nurse.

"She was mugged….and she fought back…and they shot her." I said hesitantly.

"Where are her parents?" Oh shoot.

"They went on vacation, we are her cousins. We weren't with her when it happened but she…uh…called us and we came and got her." That works.

"Can you call her parents?" Oh this is way too easy.

"I wish we could, but we don't have cell phones." I said (fake) sadly.

"Here, use our phone." She pointed to a payphone, "It'll be free, given the circumstances." I slowly walked toward the phone and dialed a random number. I decided I would pretend.

"Hi! Aunt Jenny! Umm, we have to tell you something about Clara." I waited a little while as if 'Aunt Jenny' was talking. "Well, I am just going to tell you straight out…she got shot. Yes, yes. I know. She'll be okay…can you come…..oh?...well she'll just be heartbroken!...okay….bye." I hung up the phone. "Aunt Jenny and Uncle Jerry are snowed in! They won't be able to get here until next Friday! Who should break it to her?" I pretended to sound disappointed.

"Oh…I will." Fang said, sounding saaad.

"Sara?" She looked up at us from the hospital bed and smiled a little. "Heey! Are you hanging in?" I said as I sat down in one of the very uncomfortable chairs.

"They say I am going to die if they can't find a donor with my blood type." She told us with a breathless voice. "They say my blood type was extremely rare, and that the last time they saw someone with my blood type was years ago." She had a huge bandage on her forehead and a smaller one on her nose. Her eye was extremely swollen, almost shut. She definitely looked worse than before. The nurse walked in then.

"Oh, hi Clara! I am so sorry about your parents. We found a donor and we will do the transfusion in an hour. Kay?" She took off the blanket and checked the wound. There was an even bigger bandage around her waist, and it was soaked with blood, we couldn't even tell where the wound was, but it was in her stomach, maybe even one of her lungs. "I think the bleeding has gone down, how does it feel?" The nurse looked at her swollen eye carefully.

"Like s**t." Sara said straightly.

"Oh! Well can you be a little more specific?" The nurse was a little stunned by her choice of words.

"Okay, I feel like somebody shot me." The nurse turned her head around like 'F**k this job.'

"Okay, honey, we are going to prepare for the operation now, and your cousins have to leave." She turned to us, "you kids should go home now, we will contact you when she gets out of recovery." She was rushing us out the door.

"I think we will stay until it's over, we will be in the waiting room…_waiting_. I slowly walked out the door.

"Max, how long do you think she'll be in here? Do you think she heals as fast as us?" Iggy asked as we sat down in some more uncomfortable chairs.

"I don't know. I think I know what she's gonna do." I am pretty sure this was that time when she needed to go home. It had been months since the day we decided to go to that small beach amusement park and met her. It felt like years.

"She has to go home?" Angel asked, she was reading my mind again.

"I think so, Ange. She told me that she would have to someday. I thought it wouldn't be for a while, but when this happened, I got a feeling." Angel looked sad. But Nudge looked crushed. She and Sara had really clicked. They were like 'bff's' as Nudge called it. We sat there looking sad and _being _sad until the nurse came out with a mask over her mouth, she pulled it off.

"Hey, kids, your cousin _just_ got out of recovery. You can see her now." She trotted off quickly as she tore off her bloody gloves. We slowly stood up and walked to her room, I opened the door. Sara looked even worse than before, she had dark bags under her bloodshot eyes, she was extremely pale, and her lips were almost blue. I almost thought we were in the wrong room.

"Sara? Is that you?" Nudge asked.

"Do I really look that bad?" She smiled a little.

"Do you have to go home?" Gazzy asked.

"The doctor said I will be permanently scarred. And that I should lay low for a while, I think I will be able to fly in two days, maybe even one. But my first stop is home, and I'm stopping there. So yes, I do have to go home." Sara was almost out of breath by the time she finished.

"Well then, I guess we gotta throw out the five star hotel and stay here until you're ready." I said as I sat into my _third _uncomfortable chair today.


	10. Chapter 10: So this is goodbye?

_**Dear Readers: This is the last chapter of my story, but I plan on writing a sequel. You should check it out. It's going to be called 'Well, yeah…I can do that.' Look for it soon. –**_

**Chapter 10: Goodbye**

Once Sara got out of the hospital, we went to a restaurant and had a nice dinner. Then we headed for the west. It had taken us about a week and a half to get there. We were flying over Salinas, which was in the same bay as Santa Cruz.

"Guys, you gotta help me with a nice sob story to tell the authorities." Sara said as we scanned for Santa Cruz.

"How about…you were abducted by aliens!" Gazzy shouted.

"_OR_ you were kidnapped by a terrorist and they planned on selling you as a slave to other terrorists but you escaped." Iggy was so messed up.

"Here, this is an easy one. All you remember is a pillow case being pulled over your head and waking up on the side of a cliff all bruised up and stuff." Fang suggested. And I had to give it to him, it was a great idea.

"Sounds great! Hey! There's the concrete boat! It used to be like a party boat or something, but it was like abandoned a long time ago…anyway my mom's house is like really close! Lets land for a second." We silently landed on the dark beach.

"Well, Sara. I guess this is goodbye. We'll miss ya!" Nudge threw herself at Sara with a big bear hug, Sara almost fell over it was so aggressive.

"You guys had to be the best friends I have ever had, and I will never forget you." Sara said as she struggled to stay standing. "Good luck with your mission to save the world, Max. Fang, I hope black is next year's most popular color. Angel, please don't manipulate the president-"

"She already did." I whispered to her.

"Oh, then…don't do it again…for me? Gazzy, someday, you'd better put on a great firework show! Igster, I wanted to tell you about stem cell research, it may be able to help you with your eyes, and please watch Gazzy and make sure he doesn't blow himself up. Total, you'd better write a book someday."

"Really? Write a book? I'm _flattered._" Total looked at her shocked. But I never thought of it, but…total would be a great writer.

"Nudge, promise me that someday you'll go on _Project Runway_ and kick some butt, cause' you are the first fashionista I have ever met that can rock this year's styles _and _fly, attract metal, kick bad guy butt, et cettera. I will miss you guys so much, I will check Fangs blog all the time and I will probably comment." That seemed like the best way to communicate.

"I think this calls for a group hug!" Angel shouted. I know I'm not the biggest fan of hugs…but that's just what I needed right now. We all tried to hug each other, but it ended up in a big dysfunctional mess…I guess we needed to hug more…never mind, forget I said that.

"I won't forget that, Max!" Angel said as she hugged me around my waist. I didn't notice this but Nudge and Sara were actually crying.

"I hate leaving, but it's the best choice…I feel like me being with you guys is putting us both in more danger-unh-owww…Gazzy…that's where my scar is." Gazzy slowly stepped back like 'I hope I didn't break your stomach'. "It's okay, Gaz. I'm fine." She lifted up her shirt to show us the scar, it was on the above her belly button to the left, I was so shocked she didn't lose a rib or a lung or something. "It went straight through, there's a scar on my back, too. I bet the bullet is still in that hotel room in New York." Okay, it takes a lot to make us cry and _a lot_ to make us feel sick, but I barfed a little inside when she said that. She turned around to show us the scar on her back, that one was even worse, I wish I could tell you how it looked…but I don't want to make you barf. It was soooo gross…and well…you know how much it takes to make me say that.

We flew to her house and landed in a tree. Sara jumped out and opened the gate. Her house was a grey two story, but it was still really small. We watched as she knocked on the door. She looked at us with tears I her eyes, we waved as the door opened, the women was average sized with short dark brown hair, her face was stunned, she mouthed Sara's name and started crying. Then she shouted Sara's name in joy and hugged her. Sara cried even more and looked at us and thumbs upped. I looked at the flock, they all were crying. I myself was tearing up. Sara's mom let her in and that was the last time we saw her.

_Don't worry, Max. You'll see her again._

That was the first time the Voice made me actually feel better.


End file.
